Will they overcome?

Later today, 60 screenings around the world will challenge the laws keeping an award-winning documentary series out of shops and cinemas.

Eyes on the Prize - as reported by Wired, was a landmark series on the US civil rights movement. But the licensing agreements it obtained for archive news footage and music to recreate the era have now expired, and without their expensive renewal the double Emmy-winning series cannot be shown. It was last broadcast in 1994.

Downhill Battle, an activist site coordinating the screenings, blames the situation on "copyright law [that] has expanded out of control". It points out that footage of people singing Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King cannot be used without the permission of Time Warner, who own the rights to the song.

The situation in which copyright law frustrates creative activity bears some similarity to that faced by hip hop producers in the early 90s, when they were effectively barred from sampling soul and funk records because of difficulties in getting clearance. But where an innovative musician can get round problems with new styles and techniques (or strike a commercial deal and bank on a big hit), the sights and sounds of the past cannot be recreated.

The Boston Globewryly adds that among the 130 songs in need of clearance is Berry Gordy's Money (most likely what the publishers want). A lawyer for the production company is, however, working to get the series on the screens again for 2007 in the spirit of the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome - which is also under copyright.